BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - An
all-star cast of musicians from across Alabama and the Southeast will perform a
free concert featuring songs inspired by the civil rights movement
Thursday night at Linn Park as part of Birmingham's Empowerment
Week.

"We gathered a bunch of the best musicians we know and put
together some songs of change, songs of hope and songs of the era," says J.
Willoughby of Birmingham's Black Jacket Symphony.

Willoughby says the
concert, called "A Walk to Freedom: We Remember," is not a Black Jacket
Symphony show but instead a band made up of about 15 musicians from the region.

"We really tried to do this right," he says. "They
are some of the best musicians in the Southeast, and everyone has strong ties
to Alabama."

Under the name the
Alabama Freedom Experience, the band will perform about 25 songs selected to
celebrate 50 years of rock and roll music inspired by the civil rights movement.

"We went through the history
of civil rights and tried to do some songs from that era and then bring it up
through history," Willoughby says.

Burgin Matthews, who hosts a weekly radio show on Birmingham
Mountain Radio and co-wrote the biography on Alabama jazz legend "Doc" Frank Adams, says that
while he considers the most important music of the movement the gospel songs
sung by marchers and ordinary citizens, the popular songs by recording artists also worked to shed
light on the events in the South during that time.

"The goal of those singers was to draw attention to what was
going on," he says. "And I think they did. It also served as a recruitment tool."

Thursday's concert will include songs from the folk singers
such as Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger as well as a lot of rhythm and blues and classic rock
songs from the late 1960s and 1970s. Some
songs include "People Get Ready" by The Impressions, "Fight the Power" by the Isley
Brothers and "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye. Willoughby also says there will be a lot of inspirational
and motivational songs about coming together.

These songs represent a sense
of hope found in music in the country as it continued to change and found in
the music sung by marchers in Birmingham in 1963.

"All those songs--they were about hope and encouragement,"
Matthews says. "So in terms of what was the purpose of that music, I think it
was uplifting stuff. It was to inspire people to keep going--to keep their spirits
high."

J. Willoughby of the Black Jacket Symphony put together a band called The Alabama Freedom Experience to perform songs inspired by the civil rights movement in concert at Linn Park. (Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com)

Willoughbysays he was happy to put the show
together and participate in the city'sEmpowerment
Week as Birmingham commemorates the 50th
anniversary of 1963.

"Birmingham's come a long way in 50 years. I think we have
seen a lot of change and it was an honor to try to help put together something to
help reflect that change," he says. "The concert is a really good musical
reflection of the struggle and the times and our journey."

The Alabama Freedom
Experience will present "A Walk to Freedom: We Remember" Thursday, Sept. 12 at
8 p.m. The free concert will be held in Linn Park on the Boutwell side of the park
with the stage positioned in Reverend Abraham Woods Boulevard in front of
Boutwell Auditorium.

For more information about
Empowerment Week, visit 50yearsforward.com.